Road Traffic Collision Yesterday.

[The Doctor 46]

As the title says, I was involved in a RTC yesterday. I was turning right onto a dirty tarmacked road and was riding very slowly in second gear and hovering over the clutch. A car was waiting to turn right out of the junction but started to creep very slowly forward in anticipation of moving off after I passed. Suddenly it sped up to drive off  just as I was right in front of it. It all happened very quickly after that, I was hit square on into the rear right hand side of my bike causing me to (somehow) swerve away from the car but stay on the bike.

Two witnesses stopped to tell me they had seen everything and would witness that I had done nothing wrong  and been driven into with no warning. The little old lady driver immediately admitted fault and apologised repeatedly. She told me that she didn't see me because the sun was in her eyes and after looking from her point of view when the accident happened, I could understand why she couldn't see but not why she chose to pull out regardless.

My bike has minimum damage to the rear footrest and hanger but on the instruction of her insurance company, I am taking it to my local Suzuki dealer this afternoon to have them check it out. The insurance company had wanted it to be collected and taken to their assessor in Surrey, I live in Devon?

Anyway, the ladies insurance company contacted me even before I had got home, apologised on behalf of their customer and told me that they confirmed what the lady had told them and that I was not at fault and that any damage would be repaired and a loan vehicle given to me for the duration of me being off the road. I was also asked if I was physically okay and when I answered yes they told me that they would call again in one week to ask the same question in case I had any delayed reaction or found any aches or sprains.

The ladies insurance company is LV, the one often advertised on TV. I am not insured by them but when I next need insurance for my car and bike I will be asking them for a quote. I can confirm that they are first class and, in my opinion, could not be better. 

[Dirtbiker Martin]

Sadly L V no longer offer motorcycle insurance.

[UK_Vstrom650]

Hope you're OK.

Glad LV are supplying the loan bike as I've read some horror stories of your own insurance company passing you on to claims management companies who lend you a bike at ridiculously high charges, which you can become liable for as part of the agreement.

Hope your bike gets sorted quickly 

[Rixington43]

Glad you're OK (and hopefully the bike is too) and it's always nice to hear of insurance actually doing what it's there for.

[cooltshirt]

DHL (I used to work there) have a policy whereby all accidents must be officially reported to the insurers within the hour or ASAP. If it is obvious that DHL are at fault they will arrange hire cars and vehicle repairs quickly and at (to them) cheaper cost. If the accident is not serious in terms of injury then often the 3rd party will be content with the service offered and ignore ambulance chasing claim companies. I think if there are minor injuries they will also arrange a physio and so on. Done right this benefits all parties.
On the other hand all vehicle have cameras fitted and if they think they are a victim of a staged accident ......... common problem for hauliers, then they will defend it vigorously.
It looks like LV are doing the same sort of thing, managing the claim proactively to keep you happy, which is great and hopefully they will see it through to completion.
Glad you are OK, that's the main thing .........

[2112]

Just pleased to hear you're OK 

[Upt North]

Glad you bounced Dr.
On the injury side, do not brave it out. If you've got bruising and aches get it recorded. These things can and do develop into more serious injuries. Probably only rarely but two years down the line you could be grateful it was correctly recorded with your GP etc. I'm not suggesting you should state you're injured when you're not, but you need to edge your bets at this stage.
Hopefully you're 100% and the bike will be sorted.
Good on the other driver to be honest and upfront.
Upt'North.

[Hugo Magnus]

I do wonder just how many accidents occur as a result of bright lights/sunshine and cataracts in elderly folk. How many are driving who shouldn't be?

[The Doctor 46]

Further to my RTC. I took my bike to my local Suzuki dealer today (by appointment), told them what I thought was the damage. A technician (when did a mechanic become a technician) had a look at and reported that the only damage was the footrest rubber and it costs £9:41 including VAT.

I thought the footrest hanger was slightly bent in but he said no. I contacted the ladies insurance company and told them I did not want to claim from her insurance which they were delighted to hear. I ordered the part then phoned the lady driver and told her. She immediately said that she would put a cheque in the post to pay for the part and apologised again, a million times.
Having put both rear footrests down and looking down on them both I can see that they are both strait so I'm happy.

I think in the heat of the moment after the crash I was expecting to find damage and was so critical that I convinced myself that it was worse than it was.

Thank you all for your concern for my health and your comments but I am okay and as soon as the part comes my bike will be too. In one way I was unlucky but in another way I was very lucky and while at the bike shop I had a coffee and chatted to another customer for half an hour, about bikes and enjoyed my visit.

While at the dealer I asked how much the reflectors on the forks of new V-Strom's cost as I wanted to fit them to my bike. They cost just over £70 for two  so I won't be fitting them. 

[Asmith61]

Firstly glad you were OK 

And by the sounds of it you were very lucky and in the end a great result all round 

[stevewestern]

As others have said, glad you are OK, and that the bike is too.
But how amazing to hear of an insurance company being so keen to sort things out!
Again, as said earlier, pay attention to your body for bruising etc - I had whiplash when my car was rear-ended which took a few days to come on, but caused problems for weeks after.

[Barbel Mick]

Glad to hear that you are OK and the bike is an easy fix.

However, did you report the accident to your own insurance company? You should do.
Then, on your next renewal(s) (possibly for a set number of years) when you see the question "have you been involved in an accident?" you must declare it, whether it was your fault or not. If you don't it could void your insurance.

[Brockett]

As others have said, "glad you're OK".

[Robotstar5]

Glad to hear you're OK.
As for LV, we had a bad experience with them a few years ago, my wifes car was hit by an uninsured driver while it was parked on our drive, insurance assessor came out to look at the damage (mainly a smashed rear bumper), a couple of days later she gets a cheque with a note to say it's been written off and a recovery truck would pick it up, please have the keys and documents ready.
I was not happy as apart from the back end damage the car was fine so we asked them to write it off and we would buy it back, we got a cheque for £1100 and it cost me a couple of hundred to fix so we pocketed the rest.

[The Doctor 46]

I wouldn't call that a bad experience considering how much money you made. Still, just as well you could do the job yourself. 

[Robotstar5]

It was just the lack of communication, they didn't tell us what they were going to do, they also registered it as a write-off on the MID database so we had to put it through a VIC at a cost of forty odd quid which was annoying as they dropped the VIC a few months later.